What Does the Bible Say About Honey? Proverbs 25:27 ESV / 44 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. 2 Samuel 17:29 ESV / 35 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.” Exodus 3:8 ESV / 35 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Psalm 81:16 ESV / 32 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Psalm 19:7-11 ESV / 31 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Proverbs 25:16 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

Song of Solomon 4:11 ESV / 23 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. Ezekiel 3:1-3 ESV / 21 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. Ezekiel 27:17 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, meal, honey, oil, and balm. Exodus 16:31 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Now the house of Israel called its name manna.

It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Psalm 19:10 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 2 Kings 18:32 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. Ezekiel 20:6 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.

2 Chronicles 31:5 ESV / 13 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. Leviticus 2:11 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. Deuteronomy 6:2-3 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful That you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Leviticus 20:24 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. Judges 14:8 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. Psalm 86:1-17 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful A Prayer of David. Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. ...

Revelation 10:9-10 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. Judges 14:1-20 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah.

Now get her for me as my wife.” But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. ... Daniel 1:1-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. ... Song of Solomon 5:1-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love! I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking.

“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. ... Why is Israel called the land of "Milk and Honey"? - Questions & Answers Questions & Answers Why is Israel called the land of "Milk and Honey"? Why is Israel called the land of "Milk and Honey"? Discuss (20) Some of our greatest sages asked the same question; let's see what they have to say: When G‑d spoke to Moses at the burning bush, He informed him that He would redeem the Israelites and bring them to a "good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey..." 1 Honey here (and elsewhere in the Scriptures) is generally understood to be a reference to fruit nectar, specifically date honey—not bees' honey.

1) Nachmanides 2 writes that the key word in the verse is "flowing." Fruit trees grow in many different terrains, but their produce overflow with nectar only when the land is especially fertile, when the trees are particularly well-nourished. Similarly, livestock survives in many habitats, but only overflow with milk when they are in particularly fertile pastures. Thus, a "land flowing with milk and honey" is indicative and symptomatic of a greater good—the fertility of the Promised Land. 2) The Midrash 3 explains that milk symbolizes superior quality, richness of taste, and nourishment. Honey represents sweetness. The goodness of Israel is both nourishing and pleasant. 3) Some point out that honey and milk share a paradoxical quality. Honey is kosher, though it is produced by a non-kosher insect. Milk is kosher, though it comes from a cow whose meat may not be eaten together with milk. The goodness of Israel will often times come from places where it is least expected.

Yours truly, Why Milk and Honey WHY MILK AND HONEY Your lips distil nectar, my bride; Honey and milk are under your tongue "Song of Solomon" * SPRING is the season that recalls the biblical image of a perfect land so fertile its green hills flow with honey dripping from its hives, like liquid gold in the sunlight. A spacious land covered with pink hawthorn, red cyclamen, and white rockrose. There are the flowers of its myriad wild fruits, and the warm valley air smelling of their nectar. And gushing � somehow � from the land itself, there are springs of pure milk white as snow, and bright streams of it flowing through the hills, as if the milk of an eternally vibrant earth mother in her fruitful cycle of multiplication. It is, according to the Bible, "the beauty of all lands" � a paradise whose people would lack nothing. This curious, supernatural image is evoked every year in the spring by celebrations of the Exodus, which for millennia have alluded to the "land flowing with milk and honey," that divine destination of a people fleeing slavery: the Promised Land.

Questions about the particular significance of milk and honey involve literary archaeology, and such pursuit reveals the different layers of meaning these ancient fertility symbols gained as they were adopted and assimilated by different early cultures of the Middle East. What ultimately emerges is a startling image whose core is pantheistic and sexual, as well as both sacred and profane. For us, "milk and honey" originates in the Hebrew Bible in God's description of the country lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, namely, Canaan. It is first described as "a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey" � and in this way alone � when God commissions Moses to lead the Israelites to it. We generally accept the received definition of "milk and honey" as a metaphor meaning all good things � God's blessings; and that the Promised Land must have been a land of extraordinary fertility. The phrase "flowing with milk and honey" is understood to be hyperbolically descriptive of the land's richness; hence, its current use to express the abundance of pure means of enjoyment.

The original Hebrew (transliterated) is "e-retz za-vat ha-lav oo�d'vash"; literally, land (e-retz) flowing with (za-vat) milk (ha-lav) and (oo�) honey (d'vash). The word translated as "flowing" comes from the verb "zoov" which means to flow or gush. Key to understanding this word in the biblical context is an appreciation of its human sexual associations, given that variants of it are used elsewhere in the Bible to denote the bodily fluids issued from the genitals of either a woman or a man. Thus, in the Hebrew, the word "za-vat" suggests the idea of the land's gushing milk and honey in a sudden and copious flow, as well as its oozing them, and dripping them. A striking feature of honey's legacy in Jewish culture is that, as a testament to the high value put on this particular food, the interpreters of the Jewish dietary laws have apparently made a dispensation for it. These biblical laws reflect the general principle that anything taken from any "unclean" animals � such as bees � is forbidden.

The classic teaching found in the rabbinical literature is that bees do not produce honey, but simply transport the nectar of flowers and store it as honey in their hives. Modern science, however, recognizes that bees actually do produce it, processing nectar in their bodies with enzymes. To argue for honey's acceptance, one early rabbi cites God's own use of it in His praise of Canaan. Tradition preserves the forbidden fruit of the bee's labor as a divine blessing, and maintains its enduring sacred nature. When considering the significance of honey for the Israelites, we must bear in mind that in the Bible there is no implication that it is a cultivated product. Beekeeping was developed by them many centuries later. The biblical bees were certainly wild bees, and various other references made to their honey would indicate that it was considered public property. Wild bees living in the hollow trunks of dead trees and in the protected nooks of rock formations produced honey long before apiculture was invented. In nature, fertile land produces honey by itself and can be seen flowing, quite literally, with it. One clear implication of the presence of abundant wild honey is the existence of ample water and fertile soil that nectar-producing flowers require.

An abundance of this wild honey would generally imply other desirable conditions about a land and its climate that people dependent on the earth's fertility for their survival would value. Surely, the ancients observed that honey was most plentiful in areas where their livestock produced the most milk. In these same pastures, rich in greens for grazing, would grow an abundance of flowers for bees. Not surprisingly, milk and honey figure prominently in the oldest cultures and religions of the Middle East. For example, the Egyptians, who kept bees as long as 5,000 years ago, sweetened their foods and wine with it. They also valued honey for its medicinal virtues and for its ability to preserve fruits. They used it as an embalming material, as well as a love potion. The Egyptians, moreover, used milk and honey in their religious rituals. In the funeral ceremony performed for all but the poorest Egyptians, milk, it was chanted, should never be far from the mouths of the dead.

Honey was "the lord of offerings and celestial food � for it is sweet to the heart: it opens the flesh, knits together the bones, gathers together all the parts of the body, and the dead drink the smell of it." This is why Egyptian royalty were entombed with pots of honey (found unspoiled by modern archaeologists) to help ensure their resurrection in the Other World of their afterlife. In all the earliest cultures in the Middle East, honey was viewed as a gift of divine origin. The ancient Semites attributed its presence to Astarte � the goddess of sexuality, fertility, maternity, love and war � who was more widely revered among them than any other Babylonian god; and this earth mother had provided them with it long before Jehovah appeared. Milk and honey as symbols of fertility appear in the most ancient writings, and the well-recognized cross-pollination of these early cultures perpetuated them. Each one assimilated them, as in the Bible, where the land's fertility is likened to human fertility and sexuality. Clearly, the biblical image of milk and honey has its roots in the most basic survival needs.

It is not merely sensuous, but very sensual, as in the erotic love poetry of the "Song of Solomon," where the fertility figure of milk and honey suggests the paradise of a woman's body. By extension, a land flowing with milk and honey becomes metaphoric of a divine female figure. Indeed, the "Song" itself is a hymn to Astarte and invocation of her. Astarte's worship by the Israelites was denounced as idolatry, and in the Bible she is referred to derogatorily as Ashtoreth, a form of her name combining the Hebrew word for shame, "bo-sheth." She was associated with profane love. But for a time she rivaled God for their devotion, as with King Solomon of the "Song," who became a follower of her. The "Song of Songs" (as the poem is also known) is replete with allusions to the pre-Hebraic myth of the love of a god and a goddess on which the fertility of nature was thought to depend.

It contains some of the most ancient symbols and motifs in the Bible, with their original pantheistic references long forgotten, such as Astarte who was traditionally portrayed as full of sexual allure, like the bride in the "Song." The enduring legacy of this pantheism is likewise found in the depiction of Canaan's fertility as flowing ("za-vat") with milk and honey, where the original Hebrew with its distinct sexual overtones � lost in translation and forgotten � implies an earth mother capable of nurturing a people so they can be fruitful and multiply. In this way, the fertility and sexuality of the profane mother goddess, Astarte, form the core symbolism of the biblical image of milk and honey. Jehovah may have assumed her dominion over nature, but the language attributed to Him � the language of the early Hebrew people � reveals the older worship of her in the sacred eulogy of the Promised Land. Daily Bible Study - The Way To The Land Of Milk And Honey The Way To The Land Of Milk And Honey See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan The English word "milk" originated from an old Anglo-Saxon (i.e.

Saxony in Germany; Anglo-Saxons were a tribe of the Germans who became the English people) word, meolc, which meant to milk i.e. the original literal meaning referred to the process, not the product. "Milk" is used to translate the Hebrew word, pronounced khaw-lawb, which means milk, or more specifically in the Biblical usage, cream, as in the richest portion of a substance. The English word "honey" also originated from an old Anglo-Saxon word, hunig, which, like the English word, literally meant honey. "Honey" is used to translate the Hebrew word, pronounced deh-bawsh, which means honey, or syrup. Just as cream is the richest part of milk, syrup is a purified product of a natural substance e.g. sweet maple syrup is made from watery maple sap. In the Bible, the original words for both "milk" and "honey" referred to a refined essence, not merely plain milk and honey i.e. ordinary milk and honey existed in Egypt as much as it did in the land of Israel. The "land of milk and honey" is one of the most well-known terms of the translated Holy Scriptures.

But the gift of deliverance (which, as is obvious in the word, means to deliver, not merely to remove) to that "best part of the whole" has always been conditional upon obedience to the LORD - that's what does the refining. That applied to the physical promised land, and it applies to what the physical promised land merely prophesied - salvation into the Kingdom of God (see What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16? , Christ Died For Repentant Sinners and The Constitution Of The Kingdom Of God ; also Does God Love His Enemies? ). "20:6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them [see Appearances Of The LORD God ], to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: 20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

20:8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt." (Ezekiel 20:6-8 KJV) The Exodus was about delivering "the chosen people" to "a land flowing with milk and honey": "3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." (Exodus 3:7-8 KJV) "Unto a land flowing with milk and

 honey" The Exodus was not merely a response to the trouble that the Israelites found themselves in.

It was a fulfillment of a promise, and a prophecy, that was delivered to Abraham nearly five centuries before the Exodus happened: "15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance." (Genesis 15:13-14 KJV) When the LORD brought the people out of Egypt, they were given the means of understanding what was required, on their part, for them to be delivered to the promised land. "13:3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. 13:4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.

13:5 And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. 13:6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. 13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. 13:8 And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. 13:9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

13:10 Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year." (Exodus 13:3-10 KJV) Obedience to the LORD was specified to them, as an example to us (see Ensamples ). "20:22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. 20:23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 20:24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

20:25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 20:26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." (Leviticus 20:22-26 KJV) But what happened when the adults of the Exodus refused to obey the LORD as He commanded them? For them, their journey to "the land of milk and honey" became a death march of disobedience (see A Journey Without A Destination ) i.e.

"For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD." "5:5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised [see Circumcision ]. 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not show them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey." (Joshua 5:5-6 KJV) And their children that did make it in, did they live to accomplish the "land of milk and honey"? No, they too threw away their "salvation" with their disobedience.

"32:21 And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; 32:22 And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; 32:23 And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them [see The Northern Kingdom and The Southern Kingdom ]" (Jeremiah 32:21-23 KJV) Fact Finder: Why did the Israelites go to the land of Egypt? The Spirit World This Day In History, June 15 763 BC: The Assyrians (see Ancient Empires - Assyria ) recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to determine the dates of other events in the history of ancient Mesopotamia (the homeland of Abraham; see Israel's Iraqi Roots ).

923: King Robert I of France was killed at the Battle of Soissons. 1184: King Magnus V of Norway was killed at the Battle of Fimreite. 1215: King John sealed the Magna Carta, the Great Charter of English liberties, at Runnymede, near Windsor. 1381: The Peasants Revolt ended in Britain with its leader Wat Tyler being beheaded in London. 1389: The Ottoman Empire defeated the Serbs and Bosnians at the Battle of Kosovo (listen to our Sermon The Ottoman Empire ). 1467: Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, died; he founded the Burgundian state that rivalled France in the 15th century. 1520: Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther for refusing the Pope as his leader. Luther nevertheless maintained almost all of the Church of Rome's antichrist doctrines, as do the "Protestant" churches of today. 1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, was captured at the battle of Carberry Hill, near Edinburgh.

1744: British Admiral George Anson returned to England after circumnavigating the globe in an expedition that lasted nearly four years. 1846: The Oregon Boundary Treaty was signed by Queen Victoria and U.S. President James Polk. The treaty set the boundary between British North America and the breakaway colonies at the 49th parallel from the crest of the Rockies to the middle of the channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland. 1888: Crown Prince Wilhelm became Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last Emperor of the German Empire (see The Holy Roman Empire ). 1898: A tidal wave killed 22,000 people in Japan. 1992: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is "permissible" for the US to "forcibly extradite" anyone from other countries without any regard for the sovereignty of those countries - while at the same time proclaiming it illegal for any other country to do the very same thing to anyone in the U.S. 1994: Israel and The Vatican established full diplomatic ties.

1997: David Streeter, director of Britain's "Church Society," stated that Prince Charles should end his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles or give up his claim to the throne. "We are not going to have a confessed adulterer as supreme head of the Church of England," he said (an extremely ironic statement because the Church of England was created by an adulterer, King Henry VIII, to accommodate his repeated divorces and marriages that even the Papacy, the "great harlot" of Rome, said was immoral). 2002: An asteroid missed the Earth by only 121,000 kilometers, about 1/3 the distance between the Earth and the Moon. editionDBSx201503et Exodus 3:8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

New International Version So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. New Living Translation So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey--the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. English Standard Version and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

New American Standard Bible "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. King James Bible And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Holman Christian Standard Bible I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

International Standard Version so I have come down to deliver them from their domination by the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. NET Bible I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. New Heart English Bible I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

GOD'S WORD® Translation I have come to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good land with plenty of room [for everyone]. It is a land flowing with milk and honey where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. JPS Tanakh 1917 and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. New American Standard 1977 “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Jubilee Bible 2000 and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and broad land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the places of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. King James 2000 Bible And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and large land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. American King James Version And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

American Standard Version and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Douay-Rheims Bible And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey, to the places of the Chanaanite, and Hethite, and Amorrhite, and Pherezite, and Hevite, and Jebusite. Darby Bible Translation And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and spacious land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

English Revised Version and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Webster's Bible Translation And I am come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land, to a good land, and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. World English Bible I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Young's Literal Translation and I go down to deliver it out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to cause it to go up out of the land, unto a land good and broad, unto a land flowing with milk and honey -- unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Commentary Exodus 6:6 "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

Treasury of Scripture And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I am. Israel's Land of Milk and Honey: Prophecy Fulfilled - Inside Israel - CBN News - Christian News 24-7 - CBN.com Israel's Land of Milk and Honey: Prophecy Fulfilled Ad Feedback KIBBUTZ KETURA - In the Bible, God promises the Jewish people a land flowing with milk and honey. And while the depiction is seen as a sign of abundance, it's also literal. "In fact, milk and honey is critical. It's used 20 times in scripture," explained Moshe Kempinsky, an author and co-owner of Israel's Shorashim Biblical Shop . But when the Jewish people returned from 2,000 years in exile, they found a barren, desert land.

"God says, 'I'm going to do something miraculous,'" Kempinsky added. "'I'm going to create a land that even though those climate issues don't call for it, it's going to be a land that's going to be filled with dates and honey, and also with milk so that you know that... nothing in this land comes here except when it's from Me.'" God's Abundance It appears God has delivered on that promise. Despite the heat, humidity and limited resources, Israeli cow produces more milk per year than cows in the United States, European Union, and Australia. Ronen Gal manages operations for the dairy at Kibbutz Yotvata, the largest milking facility of its kind in the country. "We're considered leaders in the production of milk in the world," he said. "The milk production in Israel is very clever. It's very high tech." What about the honey? Most believe during biblical times, honey probably came from date trees. Botanist Dr. Elaine Solowey emigrated from the U.S. and settled not far from Yotvata on Kibbutz Ketura in 1974.

"I started out here as the head of the orchard branch and of course that was kind of funny because at that time we didn't have any orchards," Solowey recalled. "In the first few years I was responsible for planting them and the first orchard I planted was the date orchard... which is the main agricultural branch of the Kibbutz," she said There are tens of thousands of acres of date trees in Israel. Soloway planted some 3,000 of them. Each tree produces about 350 pounds of dates a year. Soloway even managed to sprout a 2,000-year-old date seed found by archaeologists years ago at Massada. Nicknamed "Methusela," the tree is now 5 years old. World-Renowned Produce Dates and palms were important in the scriptures, and those from this area were known throughout the ancient world. "The Romans had nothing nice to say about the Jews except that they had good dates," Solowey said. "Their emperors actually used to order Judean dates to eat." Today, Israel's dates are still famous throughout the world.

Israel exports some 12,000 tons of dates each year to 20 countries. Soloway has now moved beyond dates to grow life in the desert. "I'm looking for trees that love to live in the desert, that rejoice to live in the desert. Not the ones I have to keep on life support," she joked. "The biblical trees, if they grew here in the old days, why shouldn't they grow here now?" Solowey added. "We re-introduced frankincense and myrrh, which had probably been introduced at the time of King Solomon," she continued. "According to what we can tell from folk tales and from the Bible, there was already an incense and medicinal tree being cultivated here called the Balm of Gilead," she said. The frankincense and myrrh brought to Jesus were probably in crystal form. According to Kempinsky, the revival of trees in the land is the first sign of redemption. Prophecy Fulfilled According to Kempinsky, the revival of trees in the land is the first sign of redemption. "Ezekiel 36 says, 'Mountains shoot forth your branches, give forth your fruit because my children are coming home,'" he explained.

"That's an unusual thing for God to tell a tree. That's what He created a tree to do." "Except God is saying in Leviticus, 'It's going to be a desolate land when I kick you out â¦ but watch when I bring my people back home. The land is going to come forth with blossoms and trees and fruits.'" Kempinsky added. So to Kempinsky, every date that's eaten and every glass of milk we drink here is like prophecy being fulfilled. --Published Sept. 29, 2011. A Land Flowing With Milk & Honey - My Jewish Learning A Land Flowing With Milk & Honey Commentary on Parshat Vayelekh , Deuteronomy 31:1-31:30 Provided by Canfei Nesharim , providing Torah wisdom about the importance of protecting the environment. One of the best-recognized descriptions of the land of Israel is “a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 31:20).” This description immediately conjures up a picture of a rich, fertile, and desirable land–but what do the words actually mean, and what environmental implications are alluded to in this expression?

We start with the interpretation of the Talmud , which interprets the words zavat halav u‘dvash, (flowing with milk and honey) as “milk flows from the goats’ (udders), and honey flows from the dates and the figs (Ketubot 111b).” For a pastoral people, this indeed must have been an inviting description of the land. The goats were a source of milk as well as meat, and were very prolific. In biblical times, goats were a reflection of wealth. The Ban on Small Livestock How surprising then that in the land of milk and honey the Jewish sages later instituted a ban on the raising of small livestock (goats and sheep) in the land of Israel–at least in the settled areas (Mishnah Bava Kama 7:7). Rashi, in his commentary on that Mishnah , explains that the reason for the ban against raising sheep and goats in the land of Israel was due to the mitzvah of yishuv ha‘aretz, literally settling the Land, and by extension living there in such a way that will sustain Jewish existence on the Land for an unlimited time.

Although very profitable for the owner, sheep and goats are especially destructive to fields and gardens as well as other green areas. Clearly, in their considerations for making the ban on raising sheep and goats in the land of Israel, the sages were faced with a dilemma. On one hand they needed to consider the economic benefits to those that raised sheep and goats; on the other hand they needed to consider the environmental costs, and the injury to the farmers whose crops were being damaged by them. Please consider making a donation today. Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva, is a graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion and a retired major in the IDF. Rabbi Cherlow was amongst the founders of the Tzohar Foundation, a central Modern Orthodox foundation which works to build bridges between the religious and secular worlds. Commentary on Parshat Vayelekh , Deuteronomy 31:1-31:30 Provided by Canfei Nesharim , providing Torah wisdom about the importance of protecting the environment. One of the best-recognized descriptions of the land of Israel is “a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut.

31:20).” This description immediately conjures up a picture of a rich, fertile, and desirable land–but what do the words actually mean, and what environmental implications are alluded to in this expression? We start with the interpretation of the Talmud , which interprets the words zavat halav u‘dvash, (flowing with milk and honey) as “milk flows from the goats’ (udders), and honey flows from the dates and the figs (Ketubot 111b).” For a pastoral people, this indeed must have been an inviting description of the land. The goats were a source of milk as well as meat, and were very prolific. In biblical times, goats were a reflection of wealth. The Ban on Small Livestock How surprising then that in the land of milk and honey the Jewish sages later instituted a ban on the raising of small livestock (goats and sheep) in the land of Israel–at least in the settled areas (Mishnah Bava Kama 7:7).

Rashi, in his commentary on that Mishnah , explains that the reason for the ban against raising sheep and goats in the land of Israel was due to the mitzvah of yishuv ha‘aretz, literally settling the Land, and by extension living there in such a way that will sustain Jewish existence on the Land for an unlimited time. Although very profitable for the owner, sheep and goats are especially destructive to fields and gardens as well as other green areas. Clearly, in their considerations for making the ban on raising sheep and goats in the land of Israel, the sages were faced with a dilemma. On one hand they needed to consider the economic benefits to those that raised sheep and goats; on the other hand they needed to consider the environmental costs, and the injury to the farmers whose crops were being damaged by them. The sages, in prohibiting the raising of these small livestock, chose what today might be called the ‘sustainable’ path. They ruled against inappropriate development that yields a quick profit for some but damages others, and causes extensive long-term ecological damage. They determined that this was clearly not the kind of responsible development demanded by the concept of yishuv ha’aretz.

An Automobile-Centered System Unfortunately, one does not need to look very far today to find examples of irresponsible development in the land of Israel. One glaring example is the choice to develop an extensive automobile-based transportation system rather than a safer and more sustainable public transportation system. As a result, many of Israel’s most populated areas suffer from terrible air pollution. Automobiles also require a lot of valuable land for roads as well as for parking, gas stations, repair shops, etc. For Israel, a small and heavily populated country, this means tangibly less land for housing, schools, parks, or other purposes that large numbers of people benefit from. Weighing the harm caused by automobiles, including long-term ecological damage, against the short-term benefits to those who benefit, it would appear that an automobile-based transportation system does not fit well with yishuv ha’aretz. Interestingly, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, one of the Torah leaders of the previous generation, was quoted as saying that had there been a Sanhedrin (Religious High Court) in his day, they may well have forbidden the use of private automobiles in Israel.

Conditional Flowing There are still other interpretations of the expression “flowing with milk and honey” that merit our consideration. In our parashah, the mention of halav u’dvash is in a negative context: “For when I shall have brought them into the land of which I swore to their fathers, one flowing with halav u‘dvash; and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat; then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and provoke me and break my covenant (Deut. 31:20).” From this verse we clearly see how the same material abundance which is such a blessing can also lead to forgetting the Creator who provided it. This leads to the examination of one additional interpretation by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in his commentary on the expression a “land flowing with milk and honey.” Instead of focusing on the meaning of milk and honey, Rabbi Hirsch focuses on the meaning of the word for flowing (zavat), and writes: “It is very characteristic that the abundance of produce by zov only occurs in reference to Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel)? In Tanakh, the word zov never means overflowing.

It occurs mainly to describe a human pathological condition, and otherwise as a flowing forth caused by miraculous power?It does not seem to describe a land that develops the abundance in accordance with its natural fertility, but a land that only does this under special conditions. Palestine is a hard land? which can only blossom and flourish ‘under the continuous special care of God for it, from one end of the year to the other.’ When it gets water, it blossoms luxuriously. But it only gets the water from above. It is a land that makes it necessary for its inhabitants to be good.” Honey Honey You are here: God >> Bible Concordance >> Honey So their father, Jacob, finally said to them, "If it can't be avoided, then at least do this. Fill your bags with the best products of the land. Take them to the man as gifts--balm, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. - Genesis 43:11 So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own good and spacious land.

It is a land flowing with milk and honey--the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. - Exodus 3:8 I promise to rescue you from the oppression of the Egyptians. I will lead you to the land now occupied by the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey." ' - Exodus 3:17 You must celebrate this day when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is the land he swore to give your ancestors--a land flowing with milk and honey. - Exodus 13:5 In time, the food became known as manna.* It was white like coriander seed, and it tasted like honey cakes.1 - Exodus 16:31 Theirs is a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not travel along with you, for you are a stubborn, unruly people.

If I did, I would be tempted to destroy you along the way." - Exodus 33:3 "Do not use yeast in any of the grain offerings you present to the LORD, because no yeast or honey may be burned as an offering to the LORD by fire. - Leviticus 2:11 You may add yeast and honey to the offerings presented at harvesttime, but these must never be burned on the altar as an offering pleasing to the LORD. - Leviticus 2:12 But I have promised that you will inherit their land, a land flowing with milk and honey. I, the LORD, am your God, who has set you apart from all other people. - Leviticus 20:24 This was their report to Moses: "We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country--a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit as proof. - Numbers 13:27 And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey, and he will give it to us!

- Numbers 14:8 Isn't it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness, and that you now treat us like your subjects? - Numbers 16:13 What's more, you haven't brought us into the land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Are you trying to fool us? We will not come." - Numbers 16:14 Listen closely, Israel, to everything I say. Be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. - Deuteronomy 6:3 It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, olives, and honey. - Deuteronomy 8:8 Here's the buzz on honey, Judaism's sweet standby | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California Here’s the buzz on honey, Judaism’s sweet standby by MIRYAM Z. WAHRMAN, Bulletin Correspondent Follow j.

on and As the new year approaches and we stock up on foods for the High Holy Day table, one of the items we make sure to buy is honey. It's a necessary purchase, for as we ask for a Shanah Tovah U'mituka -- "May we have a good and sweet year" -- we dip apples into honey. What's interesting about honey is that it's a paradox. It is produced by bees, a non-kosher animal, but is itself kosher. And not only is it kosher, but it has been lauded as a special food from the patriarch Jacob's time until today. How can a product of a non-kosher animal be kosher? It is said that honey is kosher since it is produced outside of the body of the bee. But in fact, this is only partially true. Bees produce honey by collecting nectar from flowers, and storing the nectar in the honey sac, which is part of their digestive system. The field bee returns to the hive, and as the partially processed nectar is passed from bee to bee, water evaporates from the nectar.

The bees add an enzyme to the nectar to break down the complex sugars (predominantly sucrose) into simpler sugars (fructose and glucose). The nectar is then deposited into a cell of the honeycomb and the bees continue the processing by beating their wings vigorously. The flow of air inside the dry hive causes more evaporation to occur until the thickened and chemically altered nectar becomes honey. Honey is first mentioned in the Bible as one of the gifts sent by Jacob with his sons when they went down to Egypt to seek food during the famine. It was clearly a valuable and delicious commodity during Biblical times. Moses, at his first encounter with God at the burning bush, hears God's pledge for the first time: "I shall rescue them from the hand of Egypt and bring them up to...a land flowing with milk and honey"(Exodus 3:8). Throughout the Bible, Israel is repeatedly referred to as the land of "milk and honey." Manna, the most perfect food ever created, which sustained the Israelites for 40 years of wandering in the desert, is described as tasting "like a cake fried in honey" (Exodus 16:31).

Although rabbinical interpretation of biblical honey is fig or date honey, in the book of Judges (14:9) the mighty Samson discovers the carcass of a lion with a swarm of bees and honey inside. So honey in the Land of Israel can also refer to comb honey. Still, the book of Proverbs recognized that too much of a good thing can be harmful and used honey as a paradigm: "When you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit" (Proverbs 25:16). From a medical point of view, honey is also a paradox, as it has been used as folk remedy for numerous ailments, but can also cause illness if not used properly. For instance, It can have a laxative effect in people who cannot digest fructose efficiently, but it also can cause constipation since honey is so highly concentrated that it can reduce water in the intestine. When applied to a wound, honey can encourage healing since it has antimicrobial properties, and actually fights infections. On the other hand, honey can exacerbate an infection under certain circumstances since it contains glucose and fructose, which support bacterial growth. For that reason honey can promote tooth decay as well.

Honey had at one time been given to babies to relieve the discomfort of teething, and promote healing of gums. But some kinds of honey, we now know, carry botulism spores. While harmless in adults, these dormant spores may thrive in an infant's intestinal tract to produce a living bacterium, which manufactures a highly toxic poison. In fact, infant botulism has been cited as one possible cause of sudden infant death syndrome (crib death). For that reason, physicians strongly caution that babies under 1 year of age should not be given honey. Although it is not a perfect food like manna, honey is generally loved and relished, and it remains a modern-day treat, particularly enjoyed during the High Holy Day period. It is used as a comforting old-fashioned remedy for coughs and colds, and is an ingredient in crackers and popular breakfast cereals as well as soaps, shampoos, skin cream and conditioners. Today honey remains a powerful symbol of Jewish New Year observance. As we eat challah and honey, honey cake, taiglach (dumplings in honey) and other delicacies cooked with honey, we hope for a sweet year. Miryam Z.

Wahrman, a science correspondent for Jewish newspapers, is director of general education and professor of biology at William Paterson University of New Jersey.

Question: In the Bible, which modern-day country is referred to as ‘The land of milk and honey’?
Answer: Israel